Korea

All existing joint ventures with North Korean firms in China, as well as entities solely owned by North Korean companies or individuals, are to be closed within 120 days from September 11, when the sanctions were adopted, a notice from the Ministry of Commerce said.
Joint ventures set up overseas by Chinese firms and North Korean entities or individuals should also be closed, it said.
But companies approved by the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee – including non-profit and non-commercial infrastructure projects – would be exempted, the notice said.

China will shutdown North Korean businesses within its borders by January 2018, but states that it won’t take any actions that could harm ordinary North Koreans…
The latest round of UN sanctions bans member countries from operating joint ventures with North Korea, most of which are in China.
They also ban sales of natural gas to North Korea and purchases of the North’s textile exports, another key revenue source. They order other nations to limit fuel supplies to the North.
China, which provides the bulk of North Korea’s energy supplies, announced Saturday it would cut off gas and limit shipments of refined petroleum products, effective Jan. 1. It made no mention of crude oil, which makes up the bulk of Chinese energy supplies to North Korea and is not covered by the UN sanctions.
China also has banned imports of North Korean coal, iron and lead ore, and seafood since early September.

Figures released last year by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) indicate that North Korea’s investment in China is at a virtual standstill. Though its investment over the decade from 2006 to 2015 amounted to US$22 million, yearly investment fell from US$11.2 million in 2010 to US$290,000 in 2014 and then to US$70,000 in 2015. This is quite a difference from South Korea’s investment in China last year, which added up to US$3.3 billion.
Such investment as North Korea has made in China is largely focused in the restaurant industry, which is expected to take a direct hit. KITA figures show that North Koreans are running over a hundred restaurants in China – including 26 in Beijing and more than 10 in Shanghai – in a variety of formats, such as partnerships, joint ventures and foreign-invested companies…
During the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular press briefing on Sept. 29, Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said that the notice in question was designed to implement the UN Security Council resolution and cautioned against reading too much into it, adding that China is consistently opposed to unilateral sanctions that go beyond the UN Security Council’s framework. But there are indications that China is taking independent measures against North Korea, such as media reports that Chinese banks recently ended transactions with the North.

North Korean workers have begun to leave the Chinese border city of Dandong, following the latest round of sanctions seeking to restrict Pyongyang’s ability to earn foreign currency income, local businesses and traders say.
Almost 100,000 overseas workers, based predominantly in China and Russia, funnel some $500 million (£375 million) in wages a year to help finance the North Korean regime, the U.S. government says.

A major Russian telecommunications company appears to have begun providing an Internet connection to North Korea. The new link supplements one from China and will provide back-up to Pyongyang at a time the US government is reportedly attacking its Internet infrastructure and pressuring China to end all business with North Korea.
The connection, from TransTeleCom, began appearing in Internet routing databases at 09:08 UTC on Sunday, or around 17:38 Pyongyang time on Sunday evening. Internet routing databases map the thousands of connections between telecom providers and enable computers to figure out the best route to a destination.
Until now, Internet users in North Korea and those outside accessing North Korean websites were all funneled along the same route connecting North Korean ISP Star JV and the global Internet: A China Unicom link that has been in operation since 2010…
The OEC also created an interactive visualization breaking down North Korean imports.
Refined petroleum led the pack, followed by synthetic filament yarn woven fabric.

Coal briquettes made up the largest percentage of North Korea’s exports in 2015. They were followed by clothing articles, including coats and suits. Other commodities like iron, copper, and seafoods like mollusks and crabs also make up sizeable chunks of the exports.

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Beijing International Peace Vigil was started in March 2003 by a group of foreigners living in Beijing, China who want to work together to build lasting peace, security and justice for everyone throughout the world. Our motivation to form the group was our shared opposition to the US-initiated war on Iraq.
However, our commitment goes beyond opposing war to the need for everyone to build a better world. We believe that one important way to build peace and justice is to defend and strengthen existing global institutions, especially the UN family, as well as to build new institutions, both formal and informal.
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